


Diamond, Nora Rose

by alexandritemoon



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe- Steven is Nora, For Want of a Nail, Gen, Multi, Nora Universe AU, Raised as a Diamond, Steven Universe is Pink Diamond, Steven Universe is a Diamond, Steven is Nora Universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2019-10-20 22:41:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17631080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexandritemoon/pseuds/alexandritemoon
Summary: Hello. As some of you may know, this fic went through a previous iteration that I typed on my phone at 2 in the morning. Now that it's summer and I have loads more free time, I thought I would scrap everything and properly start from scratch. More thought and effort has been put into the story and writing than before, and I hope it shows! I really am hooked on this premise and exploring it has been so fun for me. Thanks to the fine folks at the Connie Swap (https://archiveofourown.org/series/630527) Discord for helping me realize it in its current form and for just being gems in general. (I highly suggest you read Connie Swap, by the way. It's excellent.) I am so excited about this fic and I hope you are too. Lots of things are planned to unfold...Without further ado, Chapter One!





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Hello. As some of you may know, this fic went through a previous iteration that I typed on my phone at 2 in the morning. Now that it's summer and I have loads more free time, I thought I would scrap everything and properly start from scratch. More thought and effort has been put into the story and writing than before, and I hope it shows! I really am hooked on this premise and exploring it has been so fun for me. Thanks to the fine folks at the Connie Swap (https://archiveofourown.org/series/630527) Discord for helping me realize it in its current form and for just being gems in general. (I highly suggest you read Connie Swap, by the way. It's excellent.) I am so excited about this fic and I hope you are too. Lots of things are planned to unfold...
> 
> Without further ado, Chapter One!

_Earth time: 14 March, 15 AR (After Rose)_

_Local time (Beach City, Delmarva): 0600_

 

Even after seven days of waking up on Earth, Nora still panicked when she felt her sheets’ unfamiliar material against her skin. For the eighth day in a row, she bolted upright, scrabbling at the bedspread, arms raised in a defensive position. She had been kidnapped. Who had it been? Was there a Rebel cell still operating?

After her eyes snapped open, she took in the view and realized both things were true, in a manner of speaking. There were subtle hints, such as the lack of a humming ship’s motor beneath her, and much more obvious signs, such as the gigantic one that read _It’s a Wash!_ flashing through her bedroom window. The walls were disappointingly matte, no Pearl stood at the end of her bed murmuring, “It is time for the next cycle, my Nora”, and worst of all, she was dressed in the only sleep clothes they could find for her: short nylon trousers and a red top with cropped sleeves that proclaimed her a _PROFESSIONAL BEACH HUNK._

With the lack of a holo-display to give her the time, Nora had taken to looking at the digital clock on her bedside table and reciting its numbers quietly to herself. It gave her a sense of calm in the maelstrom of disorder that was her experience on this stars-forsaken planet. Even though the entire structure of her life had been unceremoniously chucked out the airlock, she could attempt to retain something of her morning routine.

Customarily, a Pearl (sometimes her own, but more often Blue or Yellow’s) would brief or re-brief her on the scheduled events of the hours until her next sleeping period as she got ready for the day. When she had been on Tau-Gamma, it had always been Blue’s, a wisp of a Gem even for a Pearl. Secretly, Nora had always regarded her as her favorite. When her brain matured, she hoped her new Pearl would be like Blue’s. However, there was no Pearl, Blue’s or otherwise, to tell her her schedule as she put on her socks, so she took it upon herself.

Today was going to be Nora’s first day attending a human school.

She had protested heavily against the idea, but her father had insisted. According to Pearl, with Blue, Yellow, and White out of the picture, he was the designated authority figure. Well, him and the Ruby-Sapphire fusion, Nora thought with a shudder. The fact that her circumstances had seen her official guardianship passed to her own Pearl was enough to make her head hurt. Normally, when Nora’s head hurt, she would call Pearl to get her a pain suppressant tablet, but oh wait- Pearl was in charge now. The chain of Nora’s guardianship was absolute; it was the only way to ensure a being without a fully developed sense of reasoning could act in her best interest. Whatever order she was given had to be followed. However, Nora could not remember a single time that any of the other Diamonds had given her an order as asinine, as insane, as thoroughly…

 It was no use dwelling on it. She was on Earth and she was here to stay until a Homeworld ship came for her. Realistically, Nora could bake under the Earth’s sun until her human body matured and the time had come for her to assume her role on Homeworld. All things considered, the audacity of her kidnapping gave Nora some small glimmer of hope. Oh, Yellow would be so mad. Pearl would be more than shattered for this when the time came. She would be harvested, and then the Gem made from her shattered, and then those shards used to power a telescope in some remote outpost as far away from Homeworld as possible.

 Maybe, she thought wistfully, her favorite Jasper would lead the mission to rescue her, perhaps even under the Agate that she had known at Tau-Gamma. She imagined Jasper’s well-built frame casting a shadow over the beach, destabilizer in hand, as a team of her Quartzes knelt, saluted. She would be treated to one of Jasper’s rare, flickering smiles. “Couldn’t abandon you, my Nora,” she would say, and maybe- maybe even- she would be swept into Jasper’s sunset-colored arms knowing that she was safe again, that there were Gems in the galaxy that really cared about her- not equals, but friends. There would be a return to normalcy. There would be no more of the Pearl, no more of the hybrid amalgam of a seer, no more of the unattractive man with the disturbing hair on his face.

 “Nora?” called the very same man. “Time for breakfast. You don't wanna miss school, kiddo!”

 Breakfast. Yes, she did need to tend to her organic body; her energy levels were unacceptably low. No more of this fantasizing, she reprimanded herself. Think tactically. What would Yellow do?

 “Nora?”

 So it came to pass that Nora Pink Diamond, Herald of Era Three, Living and Light, Shattered yet Reformed, the Effulgent and Unprecedented, saw herself picking up a backpack made of cloth containing wood sticks for writing, putting it on, and walking out to the kitchen for school.

 “Hey, kiddo! It's good to see you!” The man with the hairy face (her father) paused for a minute, scrunching his nose in contemplation. “Then again, I thought I was never gonna see you, so it's pretty great to see my daughter, anywhere, anytime.”

 “Good morning, my Father.”

 The man’s discomfort was evident, but he pushed a plate of some sort of food towards her. It wasn't fruit. Unlike on Homeworld, human nourishment did not always come in the form of fruit.

 “I made you some waffles, kiddo. I bet you'll like them. And you don't have to call me Father. You can call me Dad. Or Greg, I guess, but maybe that would be weird?”

 “She will continue to call you that until she feels comfortable,” said the fusion seer. She had somehow been at the back of the room the whole time. Stars, she was the most maddeningly inscrutable Gem- Gems- she had ever met. “Also, you need to answer some of her questions. That's very important.”

 Some errant, impudent ray of light had the audacity to twinkle on the seer’s visor, adding to her irritating mystique. What a pair her new guardians made- this overly affable, squishy, hairy human man and this clairvoyant walking act of defiance. The years until her brain’s maturation, Nora thought, could not come soon enough.

“Oh yeah! Nora, you've never been to school before. I should probably tell you what's gonna be there.”

 “I have, effectively, been to school,” Nora replied, doing her utmost to retain her poise. “I was tutored personally by Yellow, Blue, and White Diamond. I also have had the massive library of Homeworld at my disposal since I could read. I have been trained in combat by Yellow Diamond’s finest Agates and Quartzes. I have had an extensive education across many places of learning such as your school.”

 Across the room, the seer looked ready to snap someone’s neck at the mention of the Diamonds.

 “Yeah, you told me that, kiddo,” the man said. He rubbed his hand across the back of neck, obviously ill at ease. “But you have to go to school, or the cops- the police- will come after you for being truant.”

 This sorry excuse for an excuse at first made Nora want to lose her temper and remind this man exactly whom he was talking to. Yellow had done that countless times to countless Gems while she watched. Even though it had terrified her as a child, Nora could now appreciate the utility of being able to show one’s subjects what was what. But she grit her teeth, willing herself to think tactically.

 “Yes, since I am going there, I suppose you could inform me of any differences there might be as I finish this food.” She didn't want to touch the checkered circle of food, which was covered with an unfamiliar sticky sweet substance. Besides, eating was a private activity.

 “Well, it'll be in a building, and there’ll be a lot of kids and you’ll sit down at an empty desk and the adult at the front- that's the teacher- writes on the board.”

"...I see.”

 

* * *

 

 Greg Universe was absolutely terrified of his own daughter.

Rose had told him how her alien family had been strict and told him to expect her sisters- the Diamonds- to be terrifying and unreasonable. There was a reason Rose had to leave, of course. But what kind of parents could have raised the kid sitting ramrod-straight in front of him, halfheartedly picking at her waffles?

Greg remembered the day another ship had crash-landed on the beach in front of Rose’s old Temple. He steeled himself to expect more heartbreak, perhaps someone coming to abduct him to experiment on him or something. He wouldn't put it past the crazy magic Gem empire that had kidnapped his daughter and put a monster in the core of the Earth. Instead, a familiar pale hand had stretched out of the wreckage. And something- someone- made up the purple pile stirring beside her. He had cried, sobbed even, when he heard Pearl’s voice. He had nearly fallen over when Amethyst changed into an owl like she used to do and soared around the beach, whooping.

Then there was his daughter. Across a stretch of sand, he could faintly make out a translucent pink bubble encasing a small  figure. The bubble shimmered away and a young girl stepped out, taking slow, sinking steps as she shouted angrily at Pearl in a language Greg could not understand.

Looking at her for the first time, even without the bubble or the bright pink gemstone rotated like Rose’s had been when she turned back into her old self, Greg knew she was Nora. She had Rose’s thick, curly hair, which puffed wildly out in all directions after their rough landing. Her body was thinner than Rose’s had been, but he seemed to remember Rose’s old self having a body type like that. Nonetheless, she had subtly defined muscles that made him self-conscious of his own flabbiness, especially in the tummy area where her gemstone was exposed by her pale pink tunic-thing. She was also looking a little worse for wear. The right sleeve of her coat had been torn clean off, leaving little frayed threads dangling at the top of her shoulders. The left hem of her magenta silk pants had been singed by the explosion, but her flat boots, made out of some sort of extra-durable canvas-looking material with diamonds embroidered on the toes, looked to be in good shape.

As he stared in shock at his daughter, he didn't even pause to consider how she might see him. He ran to her, tears streaming down his face, and tried to fling his arms around her for the first father-daughter hug since she was one month old. What he expected was a loving embrace. What he got was a magical shield emblazoned with a diamond insignia raised to block him. The cold fury blazing in Nora’s eyes terrified him, and he backed away to Pearl’s side immediately.

“Stand down, my Nora,” Pearl said in English. “This human was a friend of your mother’s.”

“You do not kidnap your Diamond, take her away to a forbidden colony, and tell her to stand down!” Nora said. She spoke English as well, but she had a heavy, otherworldly accent that made each syllable seem to resonate a bit more in the air. “I do not care for this human; I have no need of my mother’s organic friends or allies. I must go back.”

“Whoa there, kiddo!” Greg interjected, swallowing the lump that had risen up in his throat. “I've gotta be able to see you. I’m your dad.”

Nora, eyes dripping with confusion and disgust, turned to Pearl for clarification. “Kiddo? Dad?”

“He means that you are his offspring and he is your father.”

 “My father is dead,” said Nora. “He is lying.”

 “No, I’m not,” said Greg. “Look, I know you just crashed and maybe you don't want to talk, but you're my kid and I haven't seen you since they took you away from me. That was fifteen years ago! I think I should be able to spend some time with you for a little while, at least while you're here. Maybe you can even stay with me. Pearl, is there anything I can do?” He reached out a hand to her.

 “Do not hurt me or my Pearl, Father,” Nora barked at him. Her shield crisply unfolded and expanded to the height of a picket fence. Something deep inside Greg stung.

 Pearl looked close to tears. “Please, Greg, find Garnet. She’ll be able to help with this. Where’s Amethyst?”

 Behind Pearl there was a massive splash as owl-Amethyst shapeshifted into a whale, shrieking with delight.

 “There is a Garnet on this planet? Why was I not told of a Garnet on this planet?”

 Pearl had had enough. “My Nora, until I can find a way to get you back, as your de facto guardian, I name your father the human Greg Universe and Garnet your mother’s friend in charge of you until your brain’s maturation. May it be so. Hail to Pink Diamond of the Great Diamond Authority.” With that, she stomped to the warp pad of the Temple and warped away.

 Nora looked livid, but she knelt. “My Father.”

 “It's fine, Nora, you can just-”

 “Take me to the Garnet,” Nora demanded, cutting him off.

 That had been the beginning of a heartbreaking introduction to Nora Rose Universe, or, as she called herself, Nora Pink Diamond. Greg didn't know for certain what she had said upon meeting Garnet because she defaulted to the language she had spoken with Pearl. Garnet replied to her patiently in English (thank goodness), which made her revert back to her oddly formal version of it without seeming to register the change. Even after that, there was much talk of magic and Gem stuff that Greg didn't understand. From what he gathered, Nora seemed to be very angry that Garnet was two gems in one body and even angrier that her two gems wouldn't split up. Greg, hoping to diffuse the tension, offered to show her which room was hers and she holed up in it with the door locked. At least her facial expressions, alternately despairing and defiant, looked like ones a normal kid would make.

 He wasn't mad after Garnet told him she had been secretly communicating with Pearl all this time, only sad he had been  left out. He wondered for the thousandth time why a beautiful magical lady like Rose had wanted to have a kid with a schmuck like him. Garnet’s forecast was that things would get more normal and comfortable over time, so he just had to wait. “Nora will acclimate,” he remembered her saying. “We just need to be patient.”

 She did sorta-kinda acclimate, but he didn’t know if it was because she was getting comfortable living in a new place or because she was just trying to make the best of what she still saw as a bad situation. His dreams of immediate father-daughter bonding had been dashed, but he tried his best to show her that he wasn’t an evil space enemy. He bought her some clothes from the T-shirt shop. He was gonna dig out some quarters from his van cushions and take her to Funland, but when he had asked Garnet if it was a good idea, she had paused briefly and said, “Out of the question.”

Well, Garnet was the expert.

 Over the next couple days, Nora’s accent had disappeared until she sounded like anyone from Delmarva. She started to instinctively speak to Garnet in English a day later, and she never once looked like she didn't understand what he was saying. He supposed it was some Gem thing and was very thankful for it. He didn't know what he would do if he couldn't communicate with his daughter, even if she never dropped the uncomfortable politeness of her current speech. He supposed if Nora had no trouble understanding him, she would be fine in school.

The whole school thing, by the way, had also been Garnet’s idea. Greg approved. School was one of the most normal-kid things he could think of. Plus, his daughter had to have a good education, even if she had been tutored by intergalactic space rulers. Rose had talked about having the Gems homeschool Nora back when she was pregnant, but things had obviously not worked out that way, so school seemed to be the next best option.

 He thought at first that he would almost be able to pretend like three-fourths of the Crystal Gems hadn’t been taken fifteen years ago. He thought at first that it would be just like old times. On this count his hopes were dashed again. Pearl was nowhere to be found and had been making herself scarce since the landing. Amethyst occasionally dropped by, but she was suddenly much more interested in talking to Vidalia whenever Nora was around. (Greg couldn't blame her.) His kid was nothing like Rose in the way she talked, moved, carried herself. If it weren't for the physical resemblance, Greg wouldn’t have thought she was related. But sometimes- it had happened only twice so far, but sometimes- his daughter would get a look in her eye that reminded him a lot of Rose. He clung desperately to the thought of it, taking it as evidence that she would come around to him and he would be able to be a real dad to her. Like Garnet said, it would probably just take time. For now, he was just gonna wait and hope.

A little chime sounded from Greg’s phone. It was the alarm he had set to get Nora to school on time. “Well, it’s time to go,” he said, trying not to make it more awkward than it had to be.

 Nora kept staring at her waffles, unmoving, until Garnet prodded her with one finger. “Follow Greg,” she said. “He’s driving the car.”

Nora stood up and followed Greg to the door, glaring daggers at Garnet the entire time.


	2. Chapter 2

Pinkmoon time: 31 July 13 AR

From the point of view of the poor Peridot assigned to watch the video feed of Pinkmoon, the orbital space station housing the new incarnation of Pink Diamond, it was a completely ordinary day. Her Diamond, Nora Pink Diamond, woke up from her “sleep” (an odd sight, but Peridot 2F5L-5XG had gotten used to it), padded to the hygienic maintenance room, cleaned her organic body in privacy, acquired her appearance modifiers, and set out to ingest the organic matter that was necessary to supply her with energy for the day. After watching this cycle after cycle, the banality began to set in and Peridot amused herself with programming an alarm system that would scream CLOD if anyone tried to break the lock on her door. At least being stuck with this strange Diamond wasn’t as bad as her last assignment, she reminded herself.

For Her New Luminance Nora Pink Diamond, however, the 24 hours stretching out in front of her were rich with promise. She pulled up a holo-report to read, idly flicking through it like today wasn’t the most important day of her life so far. A cup of water sat nearly untouched next to her. Pearl (her Pearl, not Yellow’s or Blue’s), busied herself with putting the breakfast dishes into the disinfector. Through the window, she could see the jungle moon around which she orbited. She supposed she had better take a good look at it, seeing as she would not visit it again until after a few decades. It would be Tau-Gamma first, then her tour, and then, eventually…

Earth. Her planet, her mother’s planet, her birthright, the battlefield of defeat, the failed project that even now she was thinking of new ideas for.

The entire ordeal was so exciting. It was like the Grand Staircase back on Homeworld: even from the first step, you could see almost all the others, shimmering out into eternity. Nora wanted that final step so bad, she could feel it.

There was a cough and a whisper that could only belong to Blue Pearl. “My Diamond?” she said. Yellow’s Pearl stood beside her, with Nora’s own Pearl continuing to dutifully tidy the breakfast area. “We are here.”

“Pearl!” She was speaking to both. “Are your Diamonds with you?”

“My Diamond regrets that she had urgent business, but will still meet you when arriving at Tau-Gamma,” Yellow Pearl sniffed.

“My Diamond’s ship awaits. However, she bade me show you a holovid for your emergence anniversary,” Blue Pearl affirmed in her soft, breathy voice.

“A holovid?!” I should have remembered, Nora thought. Blue tended to be nostalgic about the major milestones since Nora’s emergence, especially when she was just on the cusp of a new one.

Blue Pearl nodded, a hint of a smile on her face as she pulled up the relevant video. Nora tried and failed to conceal her excitement as the holovid flickered to life in blue and the picture began to fade in.

Blue Diamond cradled a baby Nora in one hand, gazing at the old Pink Palanquin with reverent eyes. The voice of a male human could be heard, but the audio cut off and the picture shifted to show Yellow peering quizzically down at Nora’s gem as the little one turned and gurgled. “She’s just been fed, my Diamond,” came Pearl’s voice from out of frame.

Tiny Nora turned over, wiggled a bit in Yellow’s massive palm, and burped loudly.

“Is a normal thing for human babies to do?” a bewildered Yellow asked Blue over her peals of laughter. “Pearl, please take her. I think I'm going to crush her.”

Pearl’s white arms lifted her out of the picture and the scene changed. It was her and Blue Pearl in the Pinkmoon, with enough time having passed for Nora to grow longer legs and a little mop of curly hair. Blue Pearl was dancing around on her spindly limbs and singing to the toddler about the roles of various Gems.

“An Agate terrifies,” she murmur-sung, stretching into an impression of an Agate looming over some Amethysts.

Before she could continue, Nora copied her, going up onto her tippy-toes and stretching her arms upward. “Tewifi,” she sang, in-key but blissfully unaware of her horrible pronunciation. “Tewifi!” She tumbled onto her butt and collapsed giggling.

“My Diamond,” said Blue Pearl to the camera, “I believe Nora Pink has just uttered her first intelligible word.”

“What?!” This was the voice of Yellow Diamond. “The organic Pink went and turned herself into finally decided to speak?”

“Yes, my Diamond.”

“Well what did she say?!”

“I believe it was ‘terrifies’, my Diamond.”

“Excellent! That’s wonderful! Oh, I must go to tell White-”

The scene changed again and again. Nora saw herself watching her first Pearl concert, clapping and kicking her legs on the throne. She saw herself with even longer legs and hair, touring the human zoo at age 6 with wonder in her eyes as her own Pearl shepherded her away from the humans. She saw herself with Yellow at age 7, getting a masterclass on how to use a destabilizer (“You have to continue to wield it until they fully poof, Pink.”). She saw herself in court at age 8, reciting the Homeworld Code to a beaming Blue and two very confused Zircons as she decided on a verdict for a doomed Topaz. She saw herself at age 10, being presented to the court and to White Diamond as Nora Pink Diamond, Herald of Era Three, Living and Light, Shattered yet Reformed, the Effulgent and Unprecedented. She saw how they bowed to her, the entirety of Gemkind.

She even got a glimpse of her unfinished mural, stretching up into the sky at the Tau-Gamma Temple of the Binary Star. The sneak peek, in her opinion, was the best part. (What was it with the artist’s rendering of her hair, though? She would have to talk to Blue about that.)

The holovid shuttered to a close with a swell of music. Nora fought hard to keep the tears out of her eyes, even though she knew Blue wouldn’t have minded. It was a special day, after all, and over and over again, they had told her what a special Diamond she would be. She had a chance to undo her mother’s mistakes. She had a chance to usher in a truly new Era.

She made her way up the gangplank onto Blue’s massive ship, where a line of Quartz soldiers stood, saluting at the ready.

* * *

 

Earth time: 14 March 15 AR

Local time: 0645

The school had the most human beings Nora had ever seen gathered in one place before. Her Father showed her to the secretary’s office, which forced him to push past the herds of people on their way to somewhere to learn some human thing or another, saying “excuse me” the entire time. Nora pushed her homesickness down to the bottom of her gem and forced herself to endure, to keep a straight face, to not betray a sign of weakness in the unfamiliar environment. They could treat her like a Ruby, but she would prove her perfection and competence in the face of utter chaos as Diamonds always did.

Why, oh why, had she been brought to this specific planet? Why couldn’t Pearl have crash-landed on the Earth’s moon, or literally any other of the many colonies in development in the galaxy?

After shoving their way through the suffocating throngs of disgusting humans, the two of them landed in the aforementioned secretary’s office. She had a stocky Quartz build, bright pink hair, and metal placed in different spots around her body that was either decorative or functioned as her interface with the school’s mainframe. The secretary’s duties seemed to be the same as a lower-class Pearl’s: she took calls and dictation and was busy tap-tapping away at something when her Father interrupted.

“Hi,” he said. “I’m here to register a new student.”

“One second,” she said in a staggering display of insolence that would have been cause for a reassignment back on Homeworld. “Just let me finish this paragra- ok. New student. Welcome. First name?”

“Nora,” said her Father. Well, he had that right.

“Middle name?” asked the secretary.

“Rose,” he responded. “That’s not right at all,” Nora hissed in his ear. “My second name is Pi-“

“Last name?” This time Nora was ready. “Diamond.”

Now it was her Father’s turn to look confused and hurt, but the secretary did not look like she gave two janks, to paraphrase the Amethyst.

“Date of birth?”

“31st day of the 6th month.”

“Weird way to say it, but okay. Gender?”

“What’s that?” Nora asked.

The secretary’s metal-adorned lip quirked approvingly. “None for you, I see. Ok, sex assigned at birth then?”

“Female,” said Nora. She knew that much.

“Pronouns?”

“Um, second-person when you’re addressing me, and third-person when you’re speaking of me but not addressing me?” Nora didn’t know why this was an issue.

“I like you,” said the secretary. “You’re pretty funny. How are they/them? Or would you like she/her?”

“She/her is fine,” said Nora. That was what Pearl discussed the other Diamonds with in English.

After a few more questions, the secretary told them to sit down and wait for the principal. “I’m here if you have any questions or if you just wanna talk. I’m Sheena, by the way.”

“Your nameplate says Sabina,” Nora pointed out sensibly. Why would they tolerate such errors in an administrative setting? Most people on Earth were totally cracked.

“Oh, yeah. Most people call me Sheena though, on account of the Ramones song. Nickname kinda stuck.”

“I love Rocket to Russia,” murmured her Father. “The surf rock influence really did something interesting to their sound.”

“See? He gets it. Anyway, Principal Todd will be with you in a minute.”

“Thanks, Sheena. Say, if an alien came to Earth knowing nothing about music, what album would you use to introduce them to punk?”

“Probably the Clash’s self-titled record or Never Mind the, well, you know, by the Pistols. That’s, like, 101. Later we’d be able to get into some more interesting stuff.” She broke into a genuine smile.

Her Father actually seemed to relax. “Don’t worry, Nora. You’ll be fine. This will all be fine.”

In the name of the janked-up empty sky, everyone on Earth was so cracked. So cracked.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora makes friends! Kind of. Sort of.

Earth time: 14 March 15 AR 

Local time: 0658

Mister Schmidt was a wobbly-limbed human in oddly stiff checkered clothing with a long, skinny decorative piece of fabric hanging from the collar. Two pieces of glass affixed to a metal frame hung off of his nose, and though human languages came more and more intuitively to Nora, she could not fathom why he insisted on addressing his charges as “sport”, or “pal”, or even, occasionally, “buckaroo”. (What did herding cattle have to do with any of this?) 

This Mister Schmidt was apparently her homeroom teacher, whatever that meant. The Agate-like human of the place, Principal Todd, had been surprised when Nora didn’t know what that was. 

“She’s from, um, out of the country,” her Father had said quickly. “She’s actually never been to a traditional school before!” He chuckled a bit too loudly. 

“Oh? Welcome to the United States, Nora. And I must say, your accent is excellent. I’m sure with all the hard work that took you’ll be a credit to Beach City High.”

Now Nora was standing up as she had been obliged to do, facing a flag with one hand over her heart area and moving her lips along to the words that she was supposed to say. 

“I pledge allegiance… to the flag…” 

She glanced around. The humans here were all adolescents, another reminder of how insanely inefficient they were as lifeforms. A newly formed Quartz, one fourteen-to-fifteen years old, had to salute their Diamond from time-to-time, yes. But after that, they could get to work in their platoon without the need for extra mental incubation. There were very few schools on Homeworld. That was how it was supposed to be. Even her own education, though enjoyable, had still been shameful on several levels. 

“We have a new student, class,” said Mister Schmidt after the flag-chant had concluded. “Her name is Nora Diamond and she’ll be with us here for the rest of the year. Nora, raise your hand.” 

Nora did. 

“Stand up, Nora, and tell us about yourself!” 

Nora really, really didn’t want to, but the more she thought about it, the worse it would be to disobey this human. If she blew her cover, the Diamonds would have to contend with whatever pitiful human weapons would be mobilized upon their return. She might even be deemed a defective human and locked away, or human-shattered. No, she had to play the long game. So she stood up and tried to give as little information as possible while still being truthful. 

“My name is Nora Diamond. I am fifteen years old. I was born here, then I was taken abroad by my guardian. My guardian then took me back here.” 

“Where were you before Beach City?” 

Nora tried to say Tau-Gamma, but all she could see were the many pairs of eyes on her. They looked not with the reverence customarily given to a Diamond, but with judgement. Gaping mouths, gawking eyes- 

* * *

 

Tau-Gamma time: 1 August 13 AR 

 

“She’s a Diamond?” 

“THAT’S a Diamond?” 

“Is this a joke?” 

“In an organic body?” 

“Gross.” 

“Pay them no mind, Pink,” Yellow said, striding down the barrack hallway with her customary confidence. Her Pearl and Yellow’s kept dutifully behind. All around her, Amethysts, Jaspers, and Carnelians were congregating at the doorways to salute and whisper when they didn’t think their Diamond could hear. “Once you’re of age, you can shatter them yourself for insubordination.” 

Nora tried to ignore the acute pain in favor of the unbridled excitement she had felt earlier. The barrack they were visiting contained Yellow’s gift to her: a personal Quartz guard. Most of them had once belonged to her mother, so it wasn’t like she had her own, non-secondhand Gems yet. It was a start, though, and a vast improvement over simply having a Pearl as part of her entourage. Now, for the first time, she had Gems to command. 

“Ah, yes, Nora Pink, I almost forgot,” Yellow said in the seemingly nonchalant tone she always used to convey important information, “you will be learning how to properly fight here. For some reason, this little colony of Blue’s has more arenas than any other.” 

“Really?” The stars in Nora’s eyes were nearly real. “Will you be teaching me, like before? Will Blue?” 

“Stars, no, I haven’t the time!” Yellow’s laugh was mirthful, but it still stung. “That’s part of my gift to you. A Jasper to help you figure it out for yourself, and an Amethyst to practice on. She’s defective, so it’s no great loss if you accidentally crack her. Your Jasper is quite the Quartz, I must say. Perfectly made, against all odds. It will be a shame to lose her.” 

They reached the barrack, where the traditional complement of 16 Amethysts were being lectured by an Agate.

“-and I expect you to have your backs straight! Chests out! Stones shining! This is not any random guard you have been assigned to, 8XK! This is the guard of our New Pink Diamond! Living and Light! Shattered yet Reformed! The increase in prestige-” 

“Um, Moss Agate?” 

There were sighs and groans all around that the Agate made no attempt to suppress.

“Is the question important, 8XH? Is the question TRULY necessary?” 

“Yes.” 

“Is it about our Diamond’s organic body, 8XH?” Moss Agate’s tone was beyond exasperated.

“Where does all the _poop_ go?” asked the Amethyst, seeming genuinely concerned about it. “If she’s a Diamond, does she just dematerialize it? What does she do with it? WHAT HAPPENS TO ALL OF HER POOP?” 

Yellow Diamond cleared her throat, and the entire room jumped simultaneously in an extremely satisfying display. Moss Agate’s face in particular was comically contrite as she began to genuflect. 

“Ah, my Diamonds! We were not expecting you so early!  I would like to apologize for their boorish beha-“ 

“Spare me, Agate,” snapped Yellow. “You are Pink’s now, and she may do with you as she pleases.” 

Nora stepped out from behind Yellow to inspect them. They were all pretty standard Amethysts with some slight variation from the ideal. 

“These were my mother’s?” she asked Yellow. “Made on Earth?” 

“All of them, yes. Agate, bring out the two in reserve, please. They are exempt from guard duty.” 

“As you wish, my Diamond,” gulped the Agate, bowing so low her cheek gem scraped the floor.

Nora supposed she had better make introductions. “Hello.” 

The Amethysts shifted slightly but made no overtures of friendliness. Even now, a dusky purple blush was slowly fading from 8XH’s face. 

“I am your Diamond, Nora Pink Diamond. Did you know you are the first true guard I have ever had?” 

There was still no eye contact, no movement, nothing. Yellow was watching her intently to see how she would handle this. 

Nora saw two options. One, she could attempt to browbeat them into submission like an Agate. Two, she could use the diplomatic skills she had gained from Blue. She chose the second option. 

“Where were you assigned before?” she asked the Amethyst with a curl in her hair, addressing her directly. 

“We were, um, all assigned, um, to the, um, human zoo, my Diamond,” she answered, trying and failing to keep eye contact.

“I was at the zoo many cycles ago. We may have encountered each other there. Do you remember me?” 

The Amethyst began to stutter, and Nora realized that she had visited the zoo at the age of 6 when her appearance had been different. Ah, well. She was the only changing thing in a sea of constants for most Gems. “Do you remember my Pearl?” 

Pearl helpfully gave a little wave, and the Amethyst seemed to be flooded with relief. “Ah, yes, of course I remember your Pearl, my Diamond! She took… um, you… inside the enclosure!” Her laugh was a stammer and her eyes were pleading. This would not do. A scared Amethyst was an inefficient one. Something would have to be done about this. 

Just then, Moss Agate returned with the Quartz team that would teach her how to fight marching behind her. They were a total study in contrasts, such a textbook case that Nora felt like she was in one of Blue Pearl’s lessons about what constituted a well-made gem. The one on the right was the DON’T, an Amethyst who was deep cut and almost preposterously tiny. How long had she been in the ground? Had she emerged 200, 400 years too late? 

“This is 8XM,” said the Agate, shoving her towards Nora. “We’re all so glad you, in all your mercy, have found a use for her, my Diamond.” 

Yeah, Nora thought, Yellow wasn’t kidding when she said it’s no big loss if she cracks. The little Amethyst stood, short and surly, shifting her weight from one leg to another as if defying the Agate to correct her. 

As Nora’s eyes passed to the Jasper, she certainly didn’t notice the subtle, knowing look exchanged between 8XM and her own Pearl. Looking back, she would later count it as a more significant moment. But at that point in time, all she was really taking in was the DO: an orange behemoth with a cascading white mane towering over her. Unlike the rest of the Amethysts, she had already reformed with Pink’s uniform on. It was startling to Nora to see her own emblem on someone besides Pearl. 

Jasper saluted and knelt, looking completely unfazed by Nora’s lack of a conventional form. “My Diamond.” 

* * *

 

Earth time: 14 March 15 AR

Local time: 1237

Introductions hadn’t gone too badly. Tau-Gamma had spilled out of Nora’s mouth with an accent of some kind, and now they thought she was from some place in Southern America called “Taugamà.” She had kept her mouth shut for the rest of each class, paralyzed by two things she hated to admit she possessed: homesickness and a fear of the unknown. 

Now she was sitting to one side in the human school’s eating room. It was more raucous than the noisiest Ruby barrack, the smell was disgusting, and the food was complete slop, nothing like the nutritious fruit on Homeworld or even the cooking of her Father. Worst of all, they were all eating together, like complete animals. Nora had always, always eaten in private. Only the Pearls had seen her ingesting food. Expelling waste in view of anyone was also out of the question, but luckily the humans got rid of their bodily waste in individual stalls. 

The entire scene was enough to make her sick. Like Gems, humans seemed to have types that associated with one another, but there were also humans who moved between groups. None of the groups had any clear purpose and all of their chatter was stupidly deafening. 

A lone human girl glanced from side to side across the eating room, looking for space among the crowded tables. She looked smaller than the others and was holding an insulated pouch of some kind, obviously designed to carry food. Nora wondered what social forces compelled her to refuse the unappetizing yet school-sponsored fare. (Probably the fact that it was unappetizing; Nora remembered that the simplest explanation was most often the best.) 

She continued to move across the room like a damaged spaceship looking for a landing dock until she began to make a beeline towards Nora...

(Oh no, oh stars, oh no, oh no-)

...and sat down without making any conversation. She then pulled out a paper book and an assortment of Earth vegetables with a nut-based dipping sauce and proceeded to eat her lunch. 

The lunch period passed without incident until the bell rang and the small girl got up too quickly for a human. Her foot caught on a table leg and she began to sprawl onto the disgusting checkered  floor. Before she knew what she was thinking, Nora picked up the human and set her upright, catching her falling book with the other hand. 

The girl flushed, and Nora wondered what she had done wrong. 

“Thanks,” she said. “Um, I’m Connie.” 

“Nora,” said Nora, and immediately took off in the opposite direction so that the girl would have no cause to befriend her in the future from exposed contact.

Hopefully, it was working. Even if she did wander into the incorrect class.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter we get a Pearlmethyst scene! Don’t ship it but I can see the appeal. Stay tuned to find out how P & A are dealing with being on Earth for the first time in a heckin’ while.


End file.
